No. 1039: Clocks change, Zarb zings, LOCAL launches (again) … and our new-sponsor-o-rama rolls on!

 

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes: It’s Friday on Long Island and around the world, dear readers, and glorious change is in the air.

Not only does time “spring forward” this weekend – Daylight Saving Time officially begins at 2 a.m. (local time) Sunday, so remember to reset your clocks Saturday night (if you still have any that require manual intervention) – but today’s newsletter is brought to you by yet another brand-new Innovate Long Island sponsor. (Before reading on, click here for appropriate background tuneage by the incomparable Mr. David Bowie).

Hitting the Accelerate-r: Just days after welcoming Drake Media Studios to the fold, today we are absolutely thrilled to introduce our newest new newsletter sponsor – Accelerate Long Island, the startup-supporting, investor-invigorating, research-reinforcing advocate of regional entrepreneurship.

If their pro-innovation economy mission sounds familiar … well, we noticed that, too. The synergy between Accelerate Long Island and Innovate Long Island could not be thicker – and so, we’re uber-excited to consummate our long-simmering partnership.

More on our new friends below. But first – let’s dive into your weekly innovation review!

What’s righteous is right: Today is March 6 and we’re starting with a sincere salute to the European Day of Righteousness, the European Parliament’s annual homage to all who oppose fascism, promote international justice and otherwise support human rights. (Insert lament on current U.S. politics here.)

Cold cuts: Meanwhile, today’s menu is both noticeably light and remarkably rich – it goes like that on National Frozen Food Day, when gourmet experiences are lacking but you’ll find everything you need (from appetizers to main courses to sides to desserts) in the icebox. (Why today? See below.)

Speaking of desserts, it’s also a super-sweet date – March 6 serves up both National Oreo Cookie Day (slam-dunking “milk’s favorite cookie”) and National White Chocolate Cheesecake Day (which is, like, doubly specific, but we’re not complaining).

Element-ary education: For those keeping score, Oreos contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sodium and calcium – and we know this thanks largely to Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, who presented the first-ever periodic table of elements (since updated, but still iconic) to the Russian Chemical Society on this date in 1869.

Acid redux: Acetylsalicylic acid, you ask? Why, it contains a very specific combination of the elements carbon, hydrogen and oxygen – and the recipe hasn’t changed since aspirin was patented by German company Bayer on March 6, 1899.

Frozen in time: Also leveraging science was former Arctic field naturalist Clarence Birdseye, who began test-marketing his innovative line of frozen foods 96 years ago today in Massachusetts.

Boy Wonder: Other birds eyed today include Richard John “Dick” Grayson – a.k.a. Robin, faithful sidekick to the superheroic Batman – in historic Detective Comics Issue No. 38, which hit the streets on this date in 1940.

Ups and downs: And it was March 6, 1945, when Iowa-based inventor George Nissen patented the modern trampoline.

More than a simple (if dangerous) amusement, the springy “tumbling device” has been used to train everyone from World War II aviators to Space Age astronauts to modern athletes.

By any other name: Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet Michelangelo (born Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, 1475-1564) – the High Renaissance icon who flunked out of school at age 6 but did alright anyway – would be 551 years old today.

Also born on March 6 were English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861), a Victorian Era standout (and prototype feminist); American manufacturer Aaron Lufkin Dennison (1812-1895), the “Father of American Mass-Production Watchmaking”; American businessman and philanthropist George Dayton (1857-1938), who (kinda, sorta) founded Target; American forester, planner and conservationist Benton MacKaye (1879-1975), the “Father of the Appalachian Trail”; and Russian engineer, politician and cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (born 1937), the first (known) woman to fly in space.

All’s laissez-faire: And take a bow, Alan Greenspan! The notable (and controversial) American economist – an anti-inflation warrior (and big Ayn Rand fan) who served nearly 20 years as chairman of the Federal Reserve, the longest anyone has filled the post – turns 100 today.

Send your best to the oft-celebrated, oft-condemned economist – who may or may not have caused the Great Recession – at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips and calendar events always add up.

 

About our sponsor: Accelerate Long Island is celebrating 15 years of advancing entrepreneurship and strengthening the region’s innovation economy. As manager of the Long Island Innovation Hot Spot, ALI connects startups, research institutions and investors to drive economic growth across the region. Learn more here.

 

BUT FIRST, THIS

Quick thinking: A Northwell Health hospital has become the first in New York State to deploy a rapid blood test capable of quickly assessing concussions and other traumatic brain injuries.

Manhasset-based North Shore University Hospital has tested and implemented the i-STAT Alinity TBI test, a 15-minute “whole blood” survey designed by Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories to rapidly detect common traumatic brain injury biomarkers. The next-generation technology eliminates the need for CT scans, which are traditionally used to assess such injuries, by measuring brain-specific proteins released into the bloodstream following a TBI – reducing detection time from nearly four hours to under 30 minutes, according to Northwell, while freeing up critical radiological resources for more pressing cases.

The ability to swiftly measure proteins GFAP and UCH-L1 – without radiological intervention – is “a game changer,” according to NSUH Emergency Medicine Associate Chairman Chidubem Iloabachie, who oversaw the groundbreaking blood test’s three-month Manhasset trial. “It reduces wait times for patients to receive results and can decrease treatment and … length of stay, which is critical in a busy emergency department,” Iloabachie noted.

LOCAL forecast: A popular – and potentially lucrative – regional business-support program is gearing up for its third-annual run.

The LIA Foundation, the Long Island Association’s nonprofit philanthropic arm, and Optimum Business, Long Island’s leading Internet/mobile/TV services provider, have announced the relaunch of the LOCAL Small Business Grant Program, designed to support small businesses across Nassau and Suffolk counties. The competitive grant program will dole out $5,000 grants to winning Long Island businesses, with two $20,000 grants earmarked for grand-prize winners in each county (and free six-month LIA memberships for winners who are not already association members).

Submission guidelines, contest rules and deadlines for LOCAL (Lifting Our Community Businesses Across Long Island) are all available here. “This ongoing initiative reflects the LIA’s enduring commitment … to support Long Island’s small-business community,” noted Long Island Association Vice President of Government Affairs and Communications Stacey Sikes. “By helping local business owners, we continue to strengthen our region, create new jobs and build a thriving future for residents and businesses alike.”

 

TOP OF THE SITE

The “Bourne” donation: Hofstra University alum, former Marcum CEO and accomplished film producer Jeffrey Weiner has bolstered his alma mater’s Frank G. Zarb School of Business with a transformative $5 million gift.

Page-turner: Make sure your entire innovation team is on the same page – and make sure it’s the right page. Subscriptions to Innovate Long Island’s educational, enlightening and endlessly entertaining newsletters (including our subscriber-only Monday Calendar Newsletters) are always easy, always free.

 

ICYMI

A seven-digit State University of New York fund is creating new educational and professional pathways to help combat the statewide nursing shortage – including an innovative shortcut linking SUNY Old Westbury nursing students to Brooklyn’s SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University.

 

BEST OF THE WEST (AND SOMETIMES NORTH/SOUTH)

Innovate LI’s inbox overrunneth with inspirational innovations from all North American corners. This week’s brightest out-of-towners:

From Ohio: Cleveland-based U.S. Marine Corps veteran challenges fun seekers and big thinkers alike with mind-molding word game Brain Swaggle.

From Massachusetts: Burlington-based medical-solutions provider Able Innovations enhances caregiver safety and patient dignity with robotic patient-handling platform.

From Utah: Sandy-based beverage brand Swig leverages Sour Patch Kids nostalgia with limited-edition “dirty soda” release.

 

ON THE MOVE

+ Julie Allegretti has been named director of alumni relations in the Office of Institutional Advancement at the Touro Law Center in Central Islip. She was director of marketing for Cona Elder Law in Melville.

+ Garden City-based Jaspan Schlesinger Narendran has promoted three attorneys to partner:

• Maria Girardi is a member of the Banking and Financial Services practice groups.
• Mariselle Harrison is a member of the Matrimonial and Family Law Practice Group.
• Sophia Perna-Plank is a member of the Litigation Practice Group.

+ Collin Brathwaite has been appointed bariatric surgery system chief at New Hyde Park-based Northwell Health. The board-certified surgeon and fellow of both the American College of Surgeons and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery has also been named chairman of surgery at Plainview Hospital.

+ Hauppauge-based Austin Williams has announced two promotions:

• Kim Plummer has been promoted to senior director of communications and brand strategy. She was content director.
• Ashley Rose has been promoted to associate art director. She was a production artist.

+ Abigail Johnson has joined Uniondale-based Sahn Ward Braff Coschignano as an associate attorney, concentrating on New York City land use/development and environmental law. She was an associate attorney at Fried Frank in Manhattan.

+ Brian McHugh has been appointed director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Association. The board-certified neurosurgeon is the owner of McHugh Neurosurgery in West Islip.

 

Like this newsletter? Innovate Long Island newsletter, website and podcast sponsorships are a prime opportunity to reach the inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and executives you need to know – on Long Island, and soon, across New York State (just ask Accelerate Long Island). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.

 

BELOW THE FOLD (Monster Week On The 4:30 Movie Edition)

Kraken up: Fifty years later, science still can’t identify the sea monster that shredded a U.S. warship (true story).

House of the dragon: Was a newly discovered Saharan dinosaur actually a fire-breathing dragon?

Holy crop: “Science fiction” creatures are wreaking havoc across U.S. farmlands.

Monsters Inc.: Please continue supporting the outstanding organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including Accelerate Long Island, the hulked-up best friend of innovators and entrepreneurs that’s always in beast mode when it comes to regional economic development. Check them out.